Photo Log #2
I've started my sabbatical, but it hasn't quite set in yet that I don't need to work. I've spent the start of my week working on my will, doing a bit more exercise than normal, and fretting over the state of the country. I haven't spent any time on game design, and to be honest needed a quick blog post for the week. I recently got out my 10 year old Nikon DSLR camera and decided I would try taking some board game photos with it.
So far I've learned that my lenses are either too big or too small for my dining room. I already knew the lighting was terrible, but I made due. I picked a few games off my shelf I like that also have a nice presence on the table. It really stuck out to me how many games I own that are primarily cards which I find much hard to photograph.
boop.
Designer: Scott Brady
Artist: Curt Covert
boop. is a cute little strategy feel like a step up from checkers. Each turn all you do is plop a kitten or cat onto the board and try to ge 3 in a row. The hook is that when you place a kitten or cat they "boop" any adjacent pieces away.
Century: Golem Edition
Designer: Emerson Matsuuchi
Artists: Justin Chan, Chris Quilliams
I would recommend Century: Golem Edition to a wide range of people. This could be a gateway game for new players or a pleasant lightweight resource puzzle for seasoned gamers. You use your actions cards to upgrade or trade gems for higher value gems and finally turn them in for your golem scoring cards.
Take a closer look at the cards and you will see that art on the cards matches the action by matching the gem colors and amounts. Based solely on the art it appears that the golems aid the humans by doing work for them. One would hope that the gems we turn it to claim them are adequate and fair payment for their labor.
Trails
Designer: Henry Audubon
Artist: Fifty-Nine Parks Print Series
Trails is a a simplified and paired down version of Parks. I think I prefer parks just a bit more especially because it includes a bunch of incredible artwork from 59 Parks. Trails still maintains a very nice presence and plays a lot quicker. If you want a relatively cheap and eye catching game about traversing beautiful scenic trails, pick this up.
